Lost in Translation Filming Locations: Joganji Temple in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward

Charlotte visits Joganji Temple (starts at 00:50)

Early in the film Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) makes a solo trip to a small temple in Tokyo after navigating Tokyo’s perplexing subway system. While there, she walks in on a Buddhist ceremony being performed by several monks to a small audience. She then returns to room at the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku where she calls one of her friends back in the US, explaining (through some sniffling) that she “didn’t feel anything” while watching the monks.

Charlotte approaches the main prayer hall of Joganji Temple (Lost in Translation, 2003)

Walking through the cemetery attached to the temple grounds (Lost in Translation, 2003)

Charlotte takes in a Buddhist ceremony at the main prayer altar (Lost in Translation, 2003)

The Buddhist temple she visited was Joganji Temple (成願寺) in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward, which is not very far from the Park Hyatt and the rest of Shinjuku, which is one of Tokyo’s nerve centers (similar to Times Square). The address of Joganji Temple is 2–26–6 Honcho in Nakano Ward, and is an oasis of green perched amongst a sea of concrete.

Google maps location of Joganji Temple, just outside of Shinjuku in neighboring Nakano Ward

The temple was first built in 1438 by Kuro Suzuki, a merchant from Ise in southwestern Japan who got his start breeding horses in neighboring Chiba prefecture before moving to Nakano Ward during the Muromachi period (1336–1573) where he amassed a fortune as a merchant. Locally he was known as the “rich man of Nakano” and was of relative importance in Tokyo’s high society at the time. Despite his success in business, he was blindsided by tragedy when his daughter Kozasa became ill and died suddenly at the age of eighteen.

After a long period of intense mourning and consultation with several Buddhist monks, he decided to devote the rest of his life to Buddhism and selected the land in Nakano Ward where he built the Joganji Temple in her honor. He remained at the temple as a devout monk for the rest of his life, having changed his name to Shoren. The temple played an important role for those traversing in and out of Tokyo during Japan’s feudal period, with several important figures of the Tokugawa Shogunate having registered visits at the temple.

The grounds of the temple are almost exactly as they were in the film, and though I was unable to see a ceremony taking place, I was able to get a picture of the main altar that is featured in the film. During the film, Charlotte approaches this main building where several monks are performing a ritual, and although it is difficult to determine the exact ritual from the brief shots in the film, it was likely not a funeral ceremony or other large ceremony as a larger contingent of visitors would be expected. In all likelihood, it was one of the several monthly prayer services that the temple continues to offer.

The main prayer hall at Joganji Temple in 2021 (Edward Mears, 2021)

Pillars at the entrance to the cemetery portion of Joganji Temple (Edward Mears, 2021)

Inside the main prayer hall, which is almost exactly the same as it was in the film (Edward Mears, 2021)

Closer look at the main prayer hall (Edward Mears, 2021)

One of the main gates back out onto the street, very near to West Shinjuku (Edward Mears, 2021)

Of all the Lost in Translation sites I have visited this temple is one of the few that remains almost entirely unchanged from when the film was shot in 2002 (the Park Hyatt being the other). While not as impressive as some of the other more famous Buddhist temples in Tokyo, Joganji Temple has its charm and is the perfect visit for a a break from the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku.

Joganji Temple website (Japanese): https://www.nakanojouganji.jp/index.html

Soundtrack during the Joganji Temple scene:

On the Subway by Brian Reitzell & Roger J. Manning Jr.